October 31, 2011

Seven Billion

MANILA, Philippines - Countries around the world marked the world's population reaching 7 billion Monday with lavish ceremonies for newborn infants symbolizing the milestone and warnings that there may be too many humans for the planet's resources.

While demographers are unsure exactly when the world's population will reach the 7 billion mark, the U.N. is using Monday to symbolically mark the day. A string of festivities are being held worldwide, with a series of symbolic 7-billionth babies being born.

The celebrations began in the Philippines, where baby Danica May Camacho was greeted with cheers and an explosion of photographers' flashbulbs at Manila's Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital. She arrived two minutes before midnight Sunday, but doctors say that was close enough to count for a Monday birthday.

How did we get to seven billion? Easy -- better nutrition and better medical care have led to longer lifespans and lower infant mortality. Absent some sort of rollback in those two factors or the imposition of draconian limits personal freedom (like the one child and forced abortion policies seen in Red China) , expect continued growth.

Oh, and realize that the growth is coming not in the industrialized world, but in developing countries. The United States has a birth rate that just barely maintains replacement rate, while most of Europe and japan are reaching a point where populations will begin a population decline (and some already have) as seniors die without children to replace them. It will be the children and grandchildren of foreign workers in those country who hold the key to the future in those nations and who will work dramatic change upon them -- which is why the growing number of Muslims in European countries is an important development which many still fail to grasp the significance of.

But for today, celebrate the birth of this little girl, and all the other little symbolic babies born today. After all, every new life should be viewed with hope, not fear and foreboding. And as one born at a time when the Earth's population was only about 3.2 billion souls (not even half a century ago!), my prayer is that little Danica May Camacho and the rest do great things that benefit the people of the Planet Earth

On the defensive over a half-billion-dollar loan to a now-bankrupt solar company, the White House on Friday ordered an independent review of similar loans made by the Energy Department, its latest response to rising criticism over Solyndra Inc.

The announcement came as House Republicans prepared for a possible vote next week to subpoena White House documents related to the defunct California company.

White House officials said the review would assess the health of more than two dozen other loans and loan guarantees made by the Energy Department program that supported Solyndra. Congressional Republicans have been investigating the company's bankruptcy amid embarrassing revelations that federal officials were warned it had problems but nonetheless continued to support it, and sent President Barack Obama to visit the company and praise it publicly.

"Today we are directing that an independent analysis be conducted of the current state of the Department of Energy loan portfolio, focusing on future loan monitoring and management," White House chief of staff Bill Daley said. "While we continue to take steps to make sure the United States remains competitive in the 21st century energy economy, we must also ensure that we are strong stewards of taxpayer dollars."

October 27, 2011

True Words From A Black Tea Party Patriot

“If anybody is racist it is the Democratic Party,” he said. ”They’re the racists, the party of the Ku Klux Klan, the party of Jim Crow, the party of Bull Conner, the party of segregation.”

Let’s face it – every word Kamau-Imani said is true.

The KKK was founded by Democrats and was the party’s paramilitary terrorist wing. It was used to control and punish black men like Kamau-Imani who believed they were as good as a white man, who attempted to exercise their full rights as citizens, and who dared to espouse and act upon views contrary to those accepted by the Democrat Party.

Every Jim Crow law in this nation’s history was written by, adopted by, and enforced by Democrats.

Bull Connor was a leader of the Democrat Party on the local, state, and national level as he engaged in brutality against those who sought their civil rights. He was never sanctioned by his party despite his deeds.

Segregation was the default approach of the Democrat party prior to the civil rights revolution that was encouraged and supported by the GOP, and remains that party’s position today. The only difference is that what was enforced de jure is today encouraged as the de facto default position of the Democrats as they seek to divide America based upon race and ethnicity and adopt policies that distribute and deny opportunity based upon the recipients membership in such groups rather than their knowledge, skill, or character.

In other words, the Democrats were the party of racism in the past and remain the party of racism today. After all, racism is racism, even if the professed intent is benign – as it has been in the years 1850, 1880, 1950, and 2011.

“Whenever this issue of compensatory or preferential treatment for the Negro is raised, some of our friends recoil in horror. The Negro should be granted equality, they agree; but he should ask for nothing more. On the surface, this appears reasonable, but it is not realistic. For it is obvious that if a man is entering the starting line in a race 300 years after another man, the first would have to perform some impossible feat in order to catch up with his fellow runner.”

Nice try with the King quote, but I'm not biting. What may have been reasonable and appropriate as a temporary measure back in the 1960s is not in 2011.

After all, we have a black president, and a black CEO running for that office. We have blacks in congress and on the judicial benches of the nation. Affirmative action cannot be a permanent feature of America, lest it become the very sort of badge/emblem of slavery and inferiority that Amendments 13, 14, and 15 are designed to eliminate.

Rhymes With Right: Even though those insisting you need the special help are the real racists.

Rhymes With Right: What may have been reasonable and appropriate as a temporary measure back in the 1960s is not in 2011.

So supporting affirmative action in 1964 is not racist, but supporting affirmative action in 2011 is racist. Your previous statement didn't seem to leave much wiggle room. Let's return to your original point.

Rhymes With Right: The real reason is that they have been bought and sold by the race-conscious policies of the Democrats.

So African Americans voted overwhelming for Democrats in 1965, and have ever since. You say it is because the vast majority of blacks have sold themselves for a pittance—unlike whites apparently—, even though most blacks do not receive government benefits and still experience significant discrimination (as supported by numerous studies).

When affirmative action meant taking steps to seek out and find qualified individuals for educational and employment opportunities, that was not racist. Neither was the requirement that hiring and admissions decisions be race neutral.

However, affirmative action has morphed into something else since that time, wherein race-neutrality is no longer the operative requirement. Instead, we have a paradigm where race consciousness in those decisions is the de facto (and implicitly the de jure) requirement. After all, if a disparity in employment/admissions is treated as prima facie evidence of discrimination, then the obvious solution is to create a quota system wherein benefits and burdens are distributed based upon race.

“Transparent” Regime Proposes Letting Government Lie To People Seeking Information About Government

MussoliniSaddamCeausescu

When those who are supposed to serve the people make proposals like this, I sort of understand why the people might treat them in the above fashion.

A longtime internal policy that allowed Justice Department officials to deny the existence of sensitive information could become the law of the land -- in effect a license to lie -- if a newly proposed rule becomes federal regulation in the coming weeks.

The proposed rule directs federal law enforcement agencies, after personnel have determined that documents are too delicate to be released, to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests "as if the excluded records did not exist."

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) allows Americans to ask for government records, and challenge in court any denial of access to those records. But for Americans to exercise those rights, it must be a given that the government will respond truthfully to requests for such information. It is impossible for citizens to fully exercise those rights if the government conceals even the existence of the records in question – even if those records fall within the disclosure exemptions included in FOIA.

Someone needs to remind Eric Holder and other regime officials (including Obama himself) that they are public SERVANTS, not public MASTERS.

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Arizona Department Of Health Services Hates Science

A new study that says flu shots are 59 percent effective should not be a reason for Arizonans to break their "social contract" to get vaccinated, a top state health official said Wednesday.

"There is probably not a person in my job in the other states who was happy to open the papers and see the study and the headline," Arizona Department of Health Services Director Will Humble said of reading media reports about the study, which was published online Tuesday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. "The virus is still craftier than we are in some ways. You can have a brand-new virus, even in the middle of the flu season. It's not a foolproof thing, which is why it's still important not to go to work if you do get sick."

The study analyzed how well flu shots work in the U.S. and was led by researchers at the University of Minnesota with funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

The researchers analyzed studies on the effectiveness of flu shots over a 44-year time period beginning in 1967. They found flu shots are effective for about 59 percent of adults 65 and younger, which is significantly lower than previous estimates. The study said there wasn't enough data to measure the effectiveness of flu shots in people age 65 and older.

In other words, don’t let science inform your decision on whether or not to be vaccinated – just do what the bureaucrat tells you to do like a good serf.

Oh, yeah – and it seems clear that Will Humble doesn’t know jack about what the social contract is, either.

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Scientific studies showed that coffee caused bladder cancer! OOPS! Wrong further studies show it did not cause bladder cancer. Now scientific studies show coffee prevents cancer!

Sometimes the press makes a headline out a "study" that is not a study but a insignificant statistical result. But lets assume that it turns out to be true and the flu shot only protect 59% of those who get it. You will agree that not getting it protects 0%, right? So which is better in your mind; 59% protection or 0% protection???

New charges have recently been filed against the University on counts of illegal discrimination against its Muslim and female students. The allegations are being reviewed by the District of Colombia Office of Human Rights (OHR), which has the strictest discrimination laws in the country. President John H. Garvey and the University is being urged to respond to the charges.

John F. Banzhaf III, the George Washington University Professor of Public Interest Law who initiated the legal controversy surrounding same-sex residence halls, is also the one behind these new charges.

The official allegations claim that CUA, “does not provide space – as other universities do – for the many daily prayers Muslim students must make, forcing them instead to find temporarily empty classrooms where they are often surrounded by Catholic symbols which are incongruous to their religion,” according to a press release on PRLOG.com.

Now let's set aside the fact that Banzhaf appears to be engaged in barratry for barratry's sake, soliciting frivolous lawsuits for the purpose of harassing opponents into making changes simply to escape the costs associated with the litigation. Let's look at the merits here.

Catholic University is a Catholic institution, founded by the nation's Catholic bishops and chartered by the Pope. How on earth could any student even consider matriculating there is they take offense at the presence of Christian symbols -- by its very nature CUA is an explicitly Christian institution. For government to require the school to make the sort of religious accommodations demanded -- a school sponsored and maintained worship space for Muslims -- is therefore not only nonsensical, but anathema to the guarantees contained in the Bill of Rights.

But I'd like to make one further observations on the matter, one that ought to carry some weight in our rights-driven and diversity-conscious society. This suit shows quite clearly the folly of making civil rights laws applicable to private entities — in particular to religious ones. Rather than promoting diversity, such application in this case requires the abolition of religious distinctiveness and its replacement the genericized secular norm of a state-run school. After all, the university is attempting to set its own tone and control its own environment consistent with the religious values of its institution. It should be allowed to do that -- and any student uncomfortable with such an environment should depart from the school and enroll elsewhere. For government to force changes on the University will be to place the government in control of determining what the core values of Catholicism and the core mission of a Catholic university are, and will strip away the right of students to choose the sort of education in the sort of environment that currently exists at CUA.

’Whoever is doing this [spreading rumors of Turkey's refusal of aid from Israel] is doing something horrendous’ Deputy PM Arinc stated. ‘ Turkish Government may not be on the best of terms with our Israel counterparts on a governmental basis. Yet to respond negatively to such humane offers of Israel in the wake of such disaster would have been wrong and inappropriate. It is completely untrue that we refused their help for on separate agendas.’ Israel offered Turkey aid after Turkey earthquake but Turkey ‘ kindly ‘ refused it on account of the fact that Turkey is able to sustain its needs in a disaster.

Except, of course, it was already accepting precisely such aid from Kurd-persecuting Iran -- which has been aiding Turkey with its suppression of Kurdish nationalism.

And then, a sudden and remarkable reversal came, as TurkeyREQUESTED the aid it supposedly didn't need.

For the first time since a massive earthquake struck Turkey's east, Ankara has asked Israel for aid on Tuesday, after rejecting several offers by top Israeli officials in the last two days.

On Monday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected an aid offer by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone conversation between the two leaders, representing the second such rejection since a 7.2 magnitude quake struck Turkey.

Did my blog alone cause the Turkish policy change. I sincerely doubt it. But I have no doubt that the international spotlight being shined on the Turkish rejection of aid for the victims of the earthquake in Turkish Kurdistan by blogs like mine, JoshuaPundit, and many others had a role in making the change happen.

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October 25, 2011

October's Flavor Of The Month Stumps In Home State Of September's Flavor Of The Month

LA MARQUE — Herman Cain, the former pizza magnate turned Republican presidential candidate will be in the county Tuesday as part of a local tea party political rally.

Cain, who in recent weeks surged in the polls among the crowded GOP field, is fulfilling a promise he made to party representatives long before his candidacy drew much attention.

“When we talked to our membership, more and more they would say how much they would like to hear (Cain’s) entire speech,” Bud Caldwell, of the Clear Lake Tea Party said. “Last year, we met him in Houston, long before he vaulted in the polls. We asked him to come down and he agreed.

“He could have easily pulled out when he surged in the polls, but he kept his word.”

Word is that Cain is scheduled to speak at the rally sometime after 8:00 this evening.

By the way, the event is taking place in the Congressional District of presidential candidate Ron Paul, who is the year-round favorite of loons and extremists everywhere.

So much for October's flavor of the month.

And in news about September's flavor of the month, Rick Perry has taken on some of the staff of August's flavor of the month, Michelle Bachmann.

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The epicenter and hardest hit area is near Ercis, in the mountainous area inhabited primarily by guess who - the Kurds!

The same people the Erdogan regime has been steadily oppressing for some time.

And that's exactly the area where the Turks want no one seeing anything but the Iranians, who have their own issues with the Kurds! What a coincidence, eh?

Could it be that Turkey doesn't want any international observers getting a look at what's been going on there, or talking to the local people? Are they afraid of what they might find out? Are they worried about the Kurds gathering international attention and sympathy?

And would Turkey be perfectly fine with a few less Kurds around anyway?

Three guesses.

I agree wholeheartedly with the observation -- though given the conflict between Turkey and Israel over the former's assistance with efforts to break the latter's blockade of Gaza, I'm not surprised by the decision to reject aid from Israel.

But I'll take the observation a step further, by presenting a different map.

There are a number of neighbors which could have let aid to the Turks in this case without including Israel in the effort. Turkey accepted aid from Only two of them

Iraq -- and US forces based in Iraq -- are well-positioned to give aid. But Turkey made an incursion across the Iraqi border to (properly) deal with perpetrators of a terrorist attack in Turkey earlier this week. Even though the perpetrators of that terrorist attack (the PKK) are recognized as terrorists by the US and Iraqi governments, Kurds are a powerful political force in Iraq and have great support from the US government. It is no surprise that the Turks don't want to accept humanitarian assistance from either of these two countries, lest they get a good look at the plight of Turkey's Kurdish community in the wake of the recent crackdown on Kurdish nationalism within Turkey.

Similarly, assistance from Armenia was rebuffed. One can only presume that this would have to do with Armenian sensitivity to the Turkey's record on human rights for ethnic minorities -- and Turkey'scontinueddenial of the campaign of genocide by Turks against Armenians a century ago. That makes the decision to accept help from Azerbaijan even more interesting, given the Azerbaijani history of also persecuting minority Armenians within its borders.

Once can only wonder what sort of humanitarian crisis is now ongoing in Turkish Kurdistan -- and whether the "humanitarian assistance" accepted is really more directed at rooting out Kurdish nationalism rather than providing assistance to disaster victims.

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The post reads as if no journalist has ever been to van and seen these people. the area has been full of European journalist for the last 15 years. I am also from a city near van, and van has always been one of the richest cities in the region. there is nothing that can possibly put the turkish state to shame.

i do not know why we refused the aid, but nobody thinks that the state would be ashamed of allowing outsiders to come there.

October 23, 2011

Who Are the #OWS Occupiers?

Got that? The group is overwhelmingly white. Over 2/3 are male. over a quarter have advanced degrees, as compared to the 10% of the American public who fall in that category. And let's not forget that the group also approaches the percentage of Americans who self-identify as Democrats, while being made up of only a fraction of the proportion of the American population the self-identified Republican population.

In other words, the Occupy Wall Street crowd is the "99%" only if America is overwhelming white males with advanced education and high-tech gadgets that are being stolen by their fellow protesters.

Mark Steyn On How We Can Close The Obama Deficit

Who has “a lot of money”? According to President Obama, if your combined household income is over $250,000 a year you have “a lot of money.” Back in March, my National Review colleague Kevin Williamson pointed out that, in order to balance the budget of the United States, you would have to increase the taxes of people earning more than $250,000 a year by $500,000 a year.

So in order to make sure that the government has the money to continue its ruinous spending, all we have to do is tax "the rich" at a rate that is 200% of their annual income!

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Next Time Someone Talks About The Cost Of The Iraq War

Now I happen to agree with the decision by Barack Obama to follow the timeline for withdrawal from Iraq set by George W. Bush. It is time to let Iraq to stand or fall on its own -- we cannot prop up its current government forever.

But our government is not broke because of that conflict -- and perhaps people should think about what major event occurred in 2009 that coincides with the bankrupting of America.

A 21-year-old Occupy Wall Street demonstrator caused quite the ruckus early this morning, when he scaled a 70-foot sculpture in New York's Zuccotti Park, refusing to come down until Mayor Michael Bloomberg resigned.

Dylan Spoelstra of Canada climbed the park's signature red sculpture around 6 a.m. He sat on a metal platform for three hours, with his feet dangling, as police cleared the surrounding area and tried to talk him down.

Around 9 a.m., Spoelstra was seen descending the sculpture in a police crane, looking jovial, with his arm around the officer who helped him down.

Got that -- now foreigners think they get to determine the governance of American cities. I may have serious problems with major nanny-stater Mike Bloomberg, but I'll stand with him on this side. When the freaks can beat him -- or elect a successor, then they can run New York City.

For all of the politicians, President Obama among them, who like to compare the Tea Party to the OWS "movement!"

I don't recall these types of comments being made by Tea Party members to people who disagree with them, but I could be wrong!

The following statement was made on The Political Commentator article "Occupy Wall Street video: Zionist Jews should be thrown out of the country!" Anonymously of course!

"Do you ever worry that somebody might hunt you down and kill you for the lies you are spreading? The banksters are in deep shit and so are the people who lie for them like Bill Krystol and Rush Limpballs. There are more of us than their are of you. Keep that in mind before you tell your next lie."

Got that? Dissent isn't patriotic -- it is a death penalty offense. Those who dare to disagree publicly with the Occupiers are subject to being hunted down and murdered in the streets.

October 22, 2011

Marking A Proud Day In Democrat Party History

On this day in 1868, the Ku Klux Klan assassinated a U.S. Representative. The murderer was both a Klansman and Democratic Party official. The victim was James Hinds, a Republican of Arkansas, gunned down while campaigning for re-election. Hinds had incurred the wrath of the Democratic Party by speaking in defense of African-Americans.

October 21, 2011

No Permitas Que La Puerta Te Golpeó En El Culo Cuando Salga

That's my message to Lauro Garza -- "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out."

A conservative Hispanic activist from Katy said he quit the Republican Party this week because it allowed a presidential candidate’s offensive words on immigration go unchecked.

Lauro Garza, of the Hispanic Republican organization Somos Republicans, said in a letter posted on the group’s website that he was upset with Republican presidential hopeful and former pizza company executive Herman Cain for seeming to support the idea for an electric fence along the border to keep out undocumented immigrants.

Garza did not return a phone message, but in the Oct. 16 letter, he wrote: “We saw this yesterday, in the glare of broad daylight, when a leading presidential candidate, Herman Cain, not once, but twice, advocated for the murder of innocent people and that was met with cheers! … The fact the GOP allows and applauds such outrageous thoughts is beyond reprehensible.”

A couple of points.

It is not the custom of the GOP to censor candidates for the presidential nomination -- candidates who are, after all, running independently and without party sanction. Republicans believe in free speech -- Democrats believe in telling folks what they are and are not allowed to say in the name of "political correctness".

Herman Cain is the flavor of the month, and really isn't to be taken seriously, as his electric fence comment shows -- in a manner similar to his recent foreign policy and abortion comments, if one stops to think about it.

There are no innocent people illegally crossing our nation's borders -- and if you don't recognize that, then you really don't have a clue. The one exception would be children -- and the harm to them would be on the heads of any parent irresponsible to attempt to cross such a barrier with them.

The GOP welcomes Hispanic citizens and legal immigrants. If you want to support the lawbreakers, I'm perfectly happy to see you leave my party -- feel free to support the Party of Lawlessness and Open Borders instead.

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Mexico Complains US Deporting Mexican Criminals To Mexico

Mexican President Felipe Calderón accused the United States on Thursday of dumping criminals at the border because it is cheaper than prosecuting them, and said the practice has fueled violence in Mexico's border areas.

U.S. officials earlier this week reported a record number of deportations in fiscal year 2011, and said the number of deportees with criminal convictions had nearly doubled since 2008.

"There are many factors in the violence that is being experienced in some Mexican border cities, but one of those is that the American authorities have gotten into the habit of simply deporting 60 (thousand) or 70,000 migrants per year to cities like Ciudad Juarez or Tijuana," Calderón told an immigration conference.

Sorry you don’t want them, but they are yours. Your corrupt narco-terrorist state will just have to deal with the problem on its own. Just wait until we start deporting ALL of those in this country illegally.

It is now crystal clear that the death of Qadaffi was not the result of an attempt to apprehend him, butwasinsteadacrimeagainsthumanity – the execution of a prisoner who had surrendered to enemy forces. I’m thankful that US forces were not present when this took place, because it would have made our troops complicit in that crime – and our president arguably guilty of one more crime.

The death of Moammar Qadaffi presents the perfect counterpoint to the deaths of Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki. Those latter two deaths were clearly a part of military operations directed at taking out an enemy who was still on the loose. The death of Gadaffi, as noted above, is clearly a murder – assassination, if you will – as demonstrated by the now-surfaced videos that make it clear that Qadaffi was captured alive and then shot without any form of due process. The stark difference should settle all the silliness we have heard about the deaths of bin Laden and al-Awlaki being anything other than appropriate from a military and legal point of view.

Am I in any sense defending Moammar Qadaffi? No, I’m not – the man was an evil dictator and I’m glad he’s dead. Were the Almighty to grant me the secure knowledge that Qadaffi is now burning in the fires of Hell, I would feel not the least compassion. However, the fact that I am gratified that he is out of power does nothing to deal with the legality of American involvement in Libya or the circumstances of Qadaffi’s death.

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Islamists Seek To Override First Amendment, Make Islam America’s De Facto Established Religion

After all, if Islam is to be given this demanded apecial status under the law, how can non-establishment, free exercise of religion, freedom of speech or freedom of the press.

Top Justice Department officials convened a meeting Wednesday where invited Islamist advocates lobbied them for cutbacks in anti-terror funding, changes in agents’ training manuals, additional curbs on investigators and a legal declaration that U.S. citizens’ criticism of Islam constitutes racial discrimination.

The department’s “civil rights lawyers are top of the line — I say this with utter honesty — I know they can come up with a way” to redefine criticism as discrimination, said Sahar Aziz, a female, Egyptian-American lawyer.

“I’d be willing to give a shot at it,” said Aziz, who is a fellow at the Michigan-based Muslim advocacy group, the Institute for Social Policy & Understanding.

Now consider this quite clearly. If these folks get their way, you will be permitted to criticize and denigrate Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, or most other religions to your heart’s content. The exception ill be Islam, the criticism of which will be grounds for a date in federal court followed by fine and/or imprisonment. And have no doubt – such a law would effectively make efforts to convert a Muslim to any other faith illegal. After all, any effort to show a Muslim that Christianity is true would necessarily require criticism of Islam as in some manner false and would therefore constitute an offense under the law.
Set aside the fact that this meeting should never have been scheduled. The moment that this demand was presented, representatives of the Justice Department should have closed their notebooks and declared the meeting over due to this effort to overturn the First Amendment.

Oddly enough, the AP and Washington Post didn’t find this effort to fundamentally undermine the constitutional rights of all Americans to be of sufficient significance to include in their report on the meeting.

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Andrew Sullivan Wrong Again

To rid the world of Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and Moammar Qaddafi within six months: if Obama were a Republican, he'd be on Mount Rushmore by now.

Wrong, Andrew. If this were a Republican (say George W. Bush), we would be hearing that Osama was either still alive (pictures of the corpse still haven’t been released) or that his body had been preserved on ice until it was politically beneficial to bring out. If this were a Republican (say George W. Bush) Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats would pressed for impeachment over the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki. And if this were a Republican (say George W. Bush), the entire Libyan expedition, including the death of Qadaffi, would be grounds for massive anti-war protests and calls for prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

And what's more, Excitable Andy ought to know that he would be leading a leading voice for all three of those reactions if this were a Republican president (say George W. Bush).

Mahmoud Abbas Endorses Terrorism, Jihad

Not that we should be surprised, given his personal history. But this guy is supposed to be treated as a "partner for peace" by the Israelis despite his praise for the terrorists released by Israel in exchange for Gilad Shalit.

In Ramallah, thousands packed into the headquarters of the Palestinian presidency to greet prisoners released into the West Bank. President Mahmoud Abbas and Hassan Youssef, a senior member of the Hamas group, both delivered speeches in a rare show of national unity.

"We thank God for your return and your safety," Abbas said, greeting the prisoners. "You are freedom fighters and holy warriors for the sake of God and the homeland." He also said that Israel had promised him to free more prisoners following the two-stage swap. It was the first mention of such a release.

The released prisoners are convicted terrorists, while Shalit was a kidnap victim.

When will the US stop the charade and quit funding the Palestinians on the theory that it makes them less prone to back terrorism.

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Rather Than Creating A Job, Obama Campaign Seeks Volunteer

The Obama campaign has more than $60 million cash on hand. In an economy this bad, you'd think a presidential campaign that flush would be happy to pay good money for a talented designer to create a campaign poster.

But the folks at Obama campaign have taken a page from the Arianna Huffington book of economic exploitation and called on "artists across the country" to create a poster ... for free.

And here's the kicker. It's a jobs poster.

Yes, the Obama campaign is soliciting unpaid labor to create a poster "illustrating why we support President Obama's plan to create jobs now, and why we'll re-elect him to continue fighting for jobs for the next four years."

Rather than "create or save" a job by actuallyhiring someone to do their design work at market rate (estimated to be $40,00 to $100,000), the Obama campaign (with some $60 million sitting in the bank) has instead decided to try to get the poster done on the cheap.

And here's the kicker.

If you win? You get: A framed copy of your own poster, signed by the president ("approximate retail value $195").

And if you don't win? Well, that's too bad. You've not only lost the contest, you've also surrendered your intellectual property. "All submissions will become the property of Obama for America," according to the fine print.

Which means that someone will be compensated less than $200 for a professional job that would cost thousands -- and that the campaign reserves the right to use any of the other entries with no compensation at all if it chooses to.

Where are all the liberals complaining about the exploitation of workers by the 1%?

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October 19, 2011

Report Excludes Key Quote From In-Flight Disruption Story

And it would certainly seem to make a difference to understanding what it was all about.

The Houston Chronicle ran this story which obscures more than it clarifies.

A man was arrested Tuesday after his unruly behavior aboard a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Kansas City compelled the flight crew to make an emergency landing in Texas.

Ali Reza Shahsavari, 29, of Indialantic, Fla., has been charged with interfering with a flight crew, said Patrick Rhodes, Amarillo's aviation director. He was booked into the Randall County Jail in Canyon, where he awaited an appearance before a magistrate.

Flight 3683 landed without incident and the man was taken into custody for questioning by federal officials. None of the 136 passengers and five crew members was injured, and the aircraft resumed its flight after a security sweep, said Brad Hawkins, spokesman for the Dallas-based airline.

But this story leaves out a "minor detail" that I think tells us a lot about the "disruptive passenger" and his motives.

Somewhere in the heavens above Amarillo, angry shouts rang out from the back of Southwest Airlines Flight 3683.

“You’re all going to die,” a man dressed in black screamed at passengers Tuesday afternoon. “You’re all going to hell. Allahu Akbar,” translated as God is great in Arabic.

Now the FBI is writing this off to "an episode of mental illness". Well, I suppose -- Sudden Jihad Syndrome qualifies as mental illness in my book. But why is there a concerted effort by major media and the authorities to bury this pertinent quote?

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October 18, 2011

Is Opposition To "Dominionism" The New McCarthyism?

Rachel Maddow gets quoted as follows in an AP article on the fringe theology of "Dominionism".

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow warned that dominionists want to prepare the world for Jesus' return by "infiltration and taking over politics and government."

Just a couple of word changes could take us right back to the 1950s -- just watch for the italicized words.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow warned that Communists want to prepare the world for the proletarian revolution by "infiltration and taking over politics and government."

That would have been standard fare circa 1950.

The difference, of course, would have been that the latter statement would have had a much firmer basis in reality, as historical records show us. Dominionism, properly speaking, is an obscure theological construct that has a relatively tiny following -- though the term is often stretched to include any effort by conservative Christians to get involved in the electoral process. There actually was a Red Menace six decades ago -- there is no Dominionist threat today.

Unfortunately, some anti-Communist leaders in the 1950s engaged in irresponsible and reprehensible conduct in response to that real threat, which led to the discrediting of the anti-Communist movement. By contrast, it appears that those attacking Dominionism are modeling their efforts on those same methods -- even to the point of indicating that some (including Texas Gov. Rick Perry" are "dupes" and "fellow travelers" because they have some connection to individuals who might well legitimately be classified as Dominionists.

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This comment is for general consumption, but more specifically for the blogger.

I say this with kind resepct, but ask you to look into this.

The Venonoa Project. Turns out that a lot of misconceptions exist about Senator McCarty, not that he was without fault, nor that innocent people were not hurt.

A lot of activities were attributed to McCarthy that were actually undertaken by the HUAC (House investigations on Un-American Activities Committee) which started in '48, but McCarthy wasn't elected until (from memory) 52.

From what I have read, and correct me if make a mistake (because I surely can admit them) but McCarthy had a list, partially gotten to him my Hoover. Hoover had knowledge of Venona, but would not divulge to McCarthy where he'd gotten his information.

Most accused by Sen McCarthy were actually quite guilty. Venona wasn't declassified until 1992, after the Soviet Union fell.

Turns out he was not only right, but actually that many got away with their subverssive activities.

The Soviets were master spies - they had networks that mole'd in to our gov't for decades.

In fairness many felt that "hey, the Sov's were our allies during WWII, not the bad guys" and the full realization of Stalin's outright evil was not recognized for years.

Montrose Neighborhood Seeks To End Unelected, Unaccontable Taxing District

The Montrose Management District, not yet a year old, may be facing extinction.

During a tense meeting of the district’s board Friday, members voted unanimously to begin the process of verifying signatures on a petition by commercial property owners seeking the district’s dissolution.

* * *

From the outset, a group of small business owners have opposed the district, appearing at board meetings to voice their objections. Many claim that they were unaware of the district’s formation until last fall, when they received mailed notices of a meeting to set the property assessment.

Ever since, they’ve vowed to collect the number of signatures from property owners required by state law -- equal to 75 percent of the assessed commercial property in the district -- to force the board to dissolve the district.

On Sept. 29, they presented a signature [sic] with 1,003 signatures, representing what they claim 78.56 percent of the assessed property, to the district’s executive director, David Hawes of the firm Hawes Hill Calderon LLP.

Interestingly enough, this entity has been used to feather the nest of the family of at least one local politician -- Mayor Annise Parker's "life partner" Kathy Hubbard is one of the unaccountable board members.

Captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit returned home Tuesday after more than five years in captivity in Gaza as part of a historic deal that also saw the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that Shalit had returned to Israel, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The deal, the most lopsided prisoner swap in Israeli history, caps a five-and-a-half-year saga that has seen multiple Israeli military offensives in Gaza, an Israeli blockade on the territory and numerous rounds of failed negotiations.

Spoiled Brats Of #OccupyWallStreet Threaten To Clog The Courts

If not, they say they won't deal and will insist on going to trial - putting pressure on the already overloaded Manhattan criminal courts.

"I'd like to suggest to the DA's office the appropriate way to deal with these cases is outright dismissal," said defense lawyer Martin Stolar.

"The leverage is, we take them all to trial."

Hey, you guys want to drag this out, it is fine by me.

Are your volunteer commie lawyers (who are part of the 1% exploiter class you are protesting) ready to represent you for free during the trial, or are they going to abandon you? If so, are you ready to dip into those trust funds for real lawyers? Or are you going to expect the taxpayers to pay for your lawyers? Probably the latter, since you seem to want everything else to be free.

But the reality is that these folks really do not understand that they are violating real laws and that these offenses have real jail time and fines attached. Take this clown as an example.

Let’s clarify this one for you, Zach. New York has an anti-mask ordinance that applies to the sort of demonstration you are a part of. Why do they have it? Because certain groups in the past have used masked political demonstrations to create terror and mayhem. You may have heard of them – the KKK. And in order to ban the masks worn by the Kluxers, yours have to be banned as well. The courts have repeatedly upheld such laws, so you are admitting that you are guilty of the crime with which you are charged – and since you apparently decided to fight the cops who arrested you, that makes two criminal offenses rather than “expressing my rights”.

Besides, why are you trying to get out of the criminal charges? Are you afraid of doing time with your fellow 99 Percenters? Or maybe you realize that a conviction might make it hard for you to get hired by one of those Wall Street companies you are currently protesting once the novelty of being part of these “radical chic” protests wears off.

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My main issues with these "loveable" idiots are these:

1) In Boston some of these thugs chased down a member of the Coast Guard, spit on her, TWICE, and yelled very vile things at her. They have defecated on a police car in New York. They are TRASHING the areas they are "living" in. Apparently none of this is nearly as newsworthy as the Tea Party - which left the Washington Mall CLEANER than they found it.

2) Most of the crowd is white - yet, no one is calling them racist.

3) Most are whining about the evils of capitalism, while they own laptops, cell phones, nice sleeping bags, nice tents, and they owe a ton of cash LOANED to them so they could go to college. Spoiled, entitled brats.

If 800 members of the Tea Party had been arrested you can bet your last dollar the news media would have had a running count, shown the perp walks, and shown the vidoes of the arrests ... over and over.

None of these idiots has clue one about how bad a system communism / socialism is, or how freaking poor they'd be living in such a country.

As to the original topic: Good, let em go to court, lose, and then hit them all with huge fines and, where appropriate, jail.

Sheila Jackson Lee Opposes Making Abortion Safe, Legal And Rare

During the House floor debate on the Protect Life Act last week, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D- Texas) defended abortion as a “needed action” and referred to the heartbeat of a fetus as a “sound”.

Voicing her opposition to the measure on Thursday, Jackson Lee referenced a previous Texas law, “Just as the courts ruled unconstitutional and upheld the provision of the Texas law that required a doctor to talk first to a woman seeking an abortion and to allow or force them both to listen, uh, to sounds that, uh, might discourage this needed action, this is going to be held unconstitutional. This is not a law that can pass,” Jackson said.

Ruled unconstitutional AND upheld? Does this woman have the vaguest clue what she is talking about, since the two actions are the exact opposite of one another? Or are the sounds coming out of her mouth just meaningless sound? We clearly need to encourage the voters of her district to take needed action and send a representative to Washington who is actually capable of rational thought and speech.

Why No #OccupySoros Protests?

After all, George Soros is a billionaire market manipulator with at least one conviction for his financial crimes. Shouldn’t he be a target of the whole Occupy Wall Street movement? Or does the fact that he is using his ill-gotten wealth to finance the various left-wing media that are supporting the Occupiers sufficient to keep him below the radar? Don't you love the smell of left-wing hypocrisy?

What A Difference A Couple Of Years Makes

The reason is simple: Romney is not a conservative. He’s not, folks. You can argue with me all day long on that, but he isn’t. What he has going for him is that he’s not Obama and that he is doing incredibly well in the debates because he’s done it a long time. He’s very seasoned. He never makes a mistake, and he’s going to keep winning these things if he never makes a mistake. It’s that simple. But I’m not personally ready to settle on anybody yet — and I know that neither are most of you, and I also know that most of you do not want this over now, before we’ve even had a single primary! All we’ve had are straw votes. You know that the Republican establishment’s trying to nail this down and end it. You know that that’s happening, and I know that you don’t want that to happen, and neither do I.

Now, as for Romney — and you should know, by the way, that I’ve met Romney. I’ve not played golf with him but I’ve met him, and I like all of these people. This isn’t personal, not with what country faces and so forth. I like him very much. I’ve spent some social time with him. He’s a fine guy. He’s very nice gentleman. He is a gentleman. But he’s not a conservative — and if you disagree, I’m open. The telephone lines are yours. Call and tell me what you think it is that makes him a principled conservative, what exactly is it. Is there something that he has said that shows conservative, principled leadership? What did he say? I’m open to it. Now, we’re told that governors are better than legislators when looking for presidents for a host of reasons.

: I think now, based on the way the campaign has shaken out, that there probably is a candidate on our side who does embody all three legs of the conservative stool, and that’s Romney. The three stools or the three legs of the stool are national security/foreign policy, the social conservatives, and the fiscal conservatives. The social conservatives are the cultural people. The fiscal conservatives are the economic crowd: low taxes, smaller government, get out of the way.

So which is it, Rush? Is Romney a conservative or not? Has Romney changed since 2008, or has Limbaugh? I'll be the first to concede that Mitt Romney is not the most conservative candidate in the race for the GOP nomination, but that does not mean that he is not a conservative. I'll concede that Romney is not the darling of the Tea party set -- but that does not mean that he is not conservative. After all, as you noted in 2008, Romney is conservative on the three major areas of conservatism -- social, fiscal, and national security/foreign affairs. Is it today your position that this is not enough?

In other words, was Rush Limbaugh wrong in 2008, or is he wrong in 2011? Or worse yet, is this switch in positions merely a play at keeping his fan-base happy? Whathaschanged?

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All I can guess is that the first statement about Romney was more an anti-McCain statement. Of course, that begs the question as to whether this statement is sincere or a veiled cut at another candidate.

Interestingly, a couple of days after Limbaugh made these statements, Romney withdrew from the race and endorsed McCain. Rush claims that he didn't actually endorse Romney, but if it sounds like a duck ...

I think that this was more of a slap at McCain than a hat tip to Romney.

Sometimes Rush Limbaugh Suffers From Crainial-Rectal Insertion

I have a generally positive attitude towards Rush Limbaugh. I agree with him more often than not, and can at least respect where he is coming from. But from time to time he has his head up his backside -- and thiswould be one of those times.

Lord's Resistance Army are Christians. They are fighting the Muslims in Sudan. ... So that's a new war, a hundred troops to wipe out Christians in Sudan, Uganda, and -- (interruption) no, I'm not kidding. Jacob Tapper just reported it. ...

Lord's Resistance Army objectives. I have them here. "To remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people." Now, again Lord's Resistance Army is who Obama sent troops to help nations wipe out. The objectives of the Lord's Resistance Army, what they're trying to accomplish with their military action in these countries is the following: "To remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people; to fight for the immediate restoration of the competitive multiparty democracy in Uganda; to see an end to gross violation of human rights and dignity of Ugandans; to ensure the restoration of peace and security in Uganda, to ensure unity, sovereignty, and economic prosperity beneficial to all Ugandans, and to bring to an end the repressive policy of deliberate marginalization of groups of people who may not agree with the LRA ideology." Those are the objectives of the group that we are fighting, or who are being fought and we are joining in the effort to remove them from the battlefield.

Wonkette Threatens Violence Against NYC Cops

Let's set aside the question of whether or not this is a bad arrest, a good arrest, or a PR set-up by the Occupiers. For my part, I think that the no-journalistic standards-folks over at Wonkette may have a point in questioning why this woman was arrested (Mahablog admits that it s unclear what happened before the arrest), and there ought to be an investigation of why this particular individual was arrested.

But that said, I'm concerned about Ken Layne's implicit call for the lynching of the officers involved.

Apparently she is here to close her account, and for that she is manhandled by a bunch of thug cops who should be careful where they go from now on.

Yes, you did read that right -- Wonkette's Ken Layne has issued an implicit call for violence against the cops who were involved in this arrest. He's placed them on a hit list -- and in doing so has endangered every police officer who makes contact with the Occupy Wall Street protests and their progeny.

So while I'm more than willing to call for an investigation of this arrest, I'm also calling for the investigation of Ken Layne and Wonkette.

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Ground Zero Mosque May Be History

Con Ed has given the Ground Zero mosque an ultimatum: Pay the $1.7 million you owe in back rent, or we’ll terminate your lease and take back our property.

Con Ed and mosque developer Park51 have an unusual, uneasy alliance, sharing ownership of a site slated to be one of the most controversial projects in city history.

The utility owns a former substation on the western half of the property, at 51 Park Place, and the mosque developers own a five-story building on the eastern half. The buildings were connected years ago and used to house a Burlington Coat Factory store.

Park51, which leases the substation from Con Ed, wants the two buildings so it can knock both down and build a $100 million, 15-story community center.

But the plan hit a major obstacle in August when Con Ed raised the rent from $2,750 a month, a rate set in 1972, to $47,437 a month, retroactive to July 31, 2008, The Post has learned.

The scumbags who are seeking to put their facility on a site where 9/11 debris was recovered are arguing that the rent should really only be half of what the utility company is demanding -- so it may be that all the planning by the group -- and all the efforts at appeasing Muslims by elected dhimmis from the President, governor, and mayor on down will have been for naught. After all, the group may have a First Amendment right to build their house of worship in one of the most offensive locations possible, but they do not have the right to by the site on the cheap or pay a rent that is below market rates.

The foremost authority on National Socialism in America has this to say about “Occupy”:

What is really MISSING – is the “MOVEMENT” from these popular protests – its time to pull WN heads out of their collective ass’s, and JOIN IN the attack on Judeo-Capitalism. What do you suggest? That WN Working Class White people DEFEND the Judeo-Capitalists? IF the “movement” wasn’t so PATHETIC it would be OUT THERE – LEADING these protests! The fact that its these “lefties” as you call them, who are picking up the ball and running with it – only shows how much more in tune THEY are with the fed up masses of White Workers, than the fossilized, reactionary “right-wing”. WHO holds the WEALTH and POWER in this country – the JUDEO-CAPITALISTS. WHO is therefore the #1 ENEMY who makes all this filth happen – the JUDEO-CAPITALISTS. WHO therefore do WN need to FIGHT? My heart is right there with these people, perhaps someday the “movement” will SHOW the same COURAGE and DEDICATION that these people OUT THERE FIGHTING are SHOWING!

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October 14, 2011

That is really what the comments of Rep. Linda Sanchez and Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. amount to, since they praised (and joined) those who expressed opposition to efforts to stop terrorism during the Bush years, but now impugn those who take a dissenting view on one of President Obama’s domestic policy proposals.

Here’s Sanchez, commenting on conservatives and Republicans who don’t back Obama’s “jobs bill”.

Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA): "These are not patriots, people who love this country want to see jobs created."

Ed Schultz, host: "They don't love this country?"

Sanchez: "No, I don't think they love this country. They're not concerned about the economic well being of the country as a whole."

Notice – dissent isn’t patriotic here. Failure to fall in line with the 44th President of the United States on a matter of domestic policy constitutes a failure to be patriotic and a lack of sufficient love of country. Mind you, this is a woman who made a career of opposing the 43rd President of the United States on foreign policy and military policy matters – regularlysidingwithAmerica’senemies while American troops were on the field of battle fighting them. Who the hell is she to pass judgment on any American’s patriotism?

Illinois Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. told The Daily Caller on Wednesday that congressional opposition to the American Jobs Act is akin to the Confederate "states in rebellion."

Jackson called for full government employment of the 15 million unemployed and said that Obama should "declare a national emergency" and take "extra-constitutional" action "administratively" -- without the approval of Congress -- to tackle unemployment.

"I hope the president continues to exercise extraordinary constitutional means, based on the history of Congresses that have been in rebellion in the past," Jackson said. "He's looking administratively for ways to advance the causes of the American people, because this Congress is completely dysfunctional.

"President Obama tends to idealize - and rightfully so - Abraham Lincoln, who looked at states in rebellion and he made a judgment that the government of the United States, while the states are in rebellion, still had an obligation to function," Jackson told TheDC at his Capitol Hill office on Wednesday.

"On several occasions now, we've seen ... the Congress is in rebellion, determined, as Abraham Lincoln said, to wreck or ruin at all costs. I believe ... in the direct hiring of 15 million unemployed Americans at $40,000 a head, some more than $40,000, some less than $40,000 - that's a $600 billion stimulus. It could be a five-year program. For another $104 billion, we bailout all of the states ... for another $100 billion, we bailout all of the cities," he said.

Got that? If a president is proposing policies that neither House of Congress is willing to pass, that president should simply declare martial law and implement those policies by executive decree, ruling as a dictator. That is the essence of Jackson’s proposal. In other words, Jackson has urged Barack Obama to stage a bloodless coup, overthrowing the Constitution and taking all the powers of all three branches of government into his own hands (and that is what he would have to do – he would make the law, execute the law, and overrule any judicial decision that declared his actions illegal). In effect, Barack Obama would be the American Caligula.

And why is Jackson, the son racial shakedown artist Jesse Jackson, urging such a course of action? Because the successful dissent from the policies of Barack Obama constitutes the equivalent of treasonous activity and armed insurrection! But it seems to me that the true seditionist is Congressman Jackson himself, as he urges the destruction of our Constitutional form of government and the creation of program of bread and circuses with nothing more than a stroke of Obama’s pen to authorize it. Who is Jesse Jackson, Jr. to question my patriotism if he is willing to make such a proposal?

Good News: Researchers Find Black Death DNA

The bacterium’s genome consists of a single chromosome, about 4.6 million DNA units long, and three small rings of DNA called plasmids. In the 660 years since the Black Death struck, only 97 of these DNA units have changed and only a dozen of these changes occur in genes and therefore would affect the organism’s physical properties, the researchers report in Wednesday’s issue of the journal Nature. Dr. Krause and others reported the DNA sequence of one of the plasmids in August. The changes in the genome will be studied one by one to see how each affects the microbe’s virulence.

The researchers hope eventually to modify a living plague bacterium so that its genome is identical to that of the agent of the Black Death. Such a microbe could be handled only in special secure facilities. But even if it did infect a person, the bacterium would be susceptible to antibiotics, like its living descendants, said Hendrik Poinar of McMaster University, a team member.

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That’s Because Cain Has A Resume

Cain's race not as big an issue with conservatives as Obama's was three years ago

Face it – in 2008, Obama’s race was just about all he had going for. Obama certainly had no record of significant accomplishments, nor did he have a clear ideology. Most of his appeal was vague speeches and the color of his skin – and a couple of over-hyped books.

Herman Cain, on the other hand does have a record of accomplishment. He has been a successful businessman, the chairman of a federal reserve bank, a media host, and a pastor. What’s more, his life is an open book, rather than being shrouded in a certain amount of obscurity.

Does that mean I'm endorsing Herman Cain -- far from it. But at least there is some "there" there when you look at him, unlike the Democrat candidate in 2008.

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#OccupyWallStreet And Progeny Demonstrate True Character

There has been the general lawlessness of the protests and the camp-outs. There have been the racist and anti-Semitic signs. There have been the threats of violence against businesses and executives. There have even been calls to murder Americans for the “crime” of being wealthy or dissenting from the incoherent platform of the so-called “99 percenters”.

But I think thisstory tells us all we need to know about the nature of those involved.

The Coast Guard in Boston confirmed that a woman in uniform was harassed and spat upon near Occupy Boston protesters.

The woman was walking to the train and said protesters spit on her twice, called her foul names and even threw a water bottle at her.

Now leaders of the movement are trying hard to distance themselves from this incident and argue that the misdeeds of a few should not be used to tar the whole. But I seem to remember that demonstrably false accusations against Tea Party were the basis for calling the entire movement racist. I expect the same standard to apply here as the Occupiers progress back to the 1960s.

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Anita Perry Shows She Isn’t Up To Job Of First Lady

But then again, since Rick Perry doesn’t seem to be up to the job of President, I’m not surprised.

“We have been brutalized and beaten up and chewed up in the press to where I need this today,” she told the audience at North Greenville University. “We still feel called. We are being brutalized by our opponents, and our own party. So much of that is, I think they look at him, because of his faith. He is the only true conservative — well, there are some true conservatives. And they’re there for good reasons. And they may feel like God called them, too. But I truly feel like we are here for that purpose.”

Lady, that is a load of steaming bovine fecal matter of the sort you might step in back at the ranch if you are not watching where you walk.

You think this is brutal? Just imagine how the other party will treat your husband in the general election if he is on the ticket. The critique of your husband offered by those of us on the right will seem quite mild compared to what the Democrats will have to say. The rest of the country is not like Texas, where we practice a somewhat more congenial form of politics in which Democrats and Republicans are at least cordial towards each other.

And let’s consider what we who are Rick Perry Republican critics have had to say about Rick Perry.

that his Gardasil mandate was morally wrong and not a conservative policy.

that he talks a good game on illegal immigration but does not live up to the rhetoric.

that he is a lousy debater and appears shallow when pressed about actual policy matters.

that he made the choice to be introduced by a speaker who then made religiously intolerant remarks

Now have there been some unfair attacks? Yes. Have some been based upon religious intolerance? Yes, in part. Have others been “gotcha politics” – like the whole kerfluffle over the name of the deer lease? Sure they have. I’ve made a point of defending Rick Perry when I’ve believed the attacks to be unfair, even though I cannot imagine supporting him for the nomination. But the reality is that these “attacks” have not been any rougher than the sort of stuff that has been directed at every GOP candidate since Ronald Reagan.

Now let’s face it – Rick Perry has had a long and relatively distinguished career in politics here in Texas. But now that he has entered the national arena, Rick Perry is finding out that he may not be ready for that larger stage. And unfortunately, Anita, your comments show that you certainly are not ready to be the sort of First Lady America needs.

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Where Are The Defenders of Free Speech On Muslim Attack on Atheist Who Mocked Muhammad?

Now I'll be the first to concede that the costumed atheist is a jerk -- indeed, I'll go even further and note that he and his companion in the Zombie Pope costume show precisely the sort of unrestrained bigotry against religious believers that is typical of militant atheists. As such, I certainly understand that Muslims were offended.

Yet I even as I understand the offense, I respect the First Amendment. Even militant atheists expressing their contempt for religion and religious believers in a public place are protested by that amendment, and there exists no right to assault them in order to silence them. After all, I'm offended every time that I hear a Muslim degrade the Son of God to the level of a mere prophet -- and a prophet who is subordinate to the false prophet Muhammad at that. That said, I understand that our society can only work if I and other offended Christians limit our response to the field of religious apologetics rather than fisticuffs.

So tell me -- why is it that no one in the media wants to take on this storry.

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October 12, 2011

Why One Olive Garden’s Decision On American Flag Is Not An Anti-American One

The men’s group at my old church used to meet for breakfast once a month at one of the local greasy spoons. The food isn’t bad, the prices are good, and it is conveniently located. However, the place does not have a meeting room, and said that while we could reserve one corner of the restaurant for our meetings, we could not post any materials on the wall where we were meeting. Seemed like a reasonable policy to me – they accommodated us, but made sure that we were not imposing our program on other diners by detracting from the ambience.

Officials with the parent company of Olive Garden restaurants say they’re sorry if a decision regarding an Alabama Kiwanis club’s desire to display the American flag caused any concern.

The comments come after 80-year-old Marti Warren of Anniston said she wasn’t allowed to bring an American flag into an Olive Garden for a planned Kiwanis Club banquet in the east Alabama town of Oxford.

Warren tells WBRC-TV that she learned the night of the banquet that she wouldn’t be allowed to display the flag or the Kiwanis banner in the restaurant.

Orlando-based parent firm Darden restaurants said in a statement that the Oxford Olive Garden lacks a private dining area, and is unable to accommodate flags or banners of any type to avoid disrupting the experience of other guests.

Frankly, it seems to me that the policy that is being followed here is reasonable and content neutral.

First, they have accommodated the community group that wants to meet. I’d imagine they have set off a portion of the dining room for the Kiwanas to meet in. But because the restaurant intentionally set an Old World décor designed to mimic Italy, they have decided not to let this (or any other) outside group hang banners of flags in the public space, lest it detract from the ambience that the are going for. That is a content neutral policy, not one directed at the Kiwanas – and certainly not one directed at the American flag.

And from a legal point of view, they really do have to rigorously enforce the policy. Imagine if the local chapter of a Mexican-American organization came in and were told they could not display a Mexican flag. Or if a Muslim group were denied the right to hang a banner written in Arabic. Or most likely of all, a local gay group wanted to fly the rainbow flag and were rebuffed. Any one of those would open the restaurant up to a lawsuit – and since all of the above groups are “protected classes” under state and federal discrimination laws, it would be likely that the restaurant would lose any case that was brought against it for discrimination.

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Tweet about your trip to Japan and get your airfare paid in full. That's only a slight simplification of what the Japan Tourism Agency is proposing with a plan to offer 10,000 free roundtrip tickets to the country in an effort to drum up tourism after the devastating Tohoku earthquake and tsunami earlier this year.

The March 11 disasters resulted in more than 15,000 deaths and also exacted a costly economic toll, including the disruption of economic activities, including large scale disruption of Japan's electronics manufacturing industry.

But for the tourism industry, ongoing concerns about the nuclear disasters triggered by the quake and tsunami are the most vexing issue. The Japan Tourism Agency is reportedly desperate to convince travelers that the country is safe to visit and not having much luck.

Enter the agency's plan to commit $14.3 million, or about 10 percent of the funds it's asking for in its 2012 budget request, to serving up 10,000 free round-trip tickets in an effort to halt six straight months of declining foreign visitor numbers.

There are a couple of catches to the sweetheart deal. One, the agency's plan still needs to be approved by Japanese lawmakers. And two, the recipients of free airfare would be required to "publicize [their] trip on blogs and social media sites," according to ABC News.

So if anyone in Tokyo is reading this, put this American teacher and blogger on your short list.

Palestinians Decalre One Jew Is Worth A Thousand Arabs

1,027 Palestinian prisoners will be released in the framework of the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas that would bring IDF soldier Gilad Shalit home.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday night, Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen said that in the first phase of the swap, Israel will release 450 prisoners. Two months later, Israel will choose an additional 577 prisoners it wants to release.

Unfortunately, this also means that Israel is to turn loose over a thousand murderers in order to get back one innocent. That precedent is disturbing -- but since Israel holds only terrorists rather than innocents as prisoners, I guess it was all they had to offer.

But to the international community I offer this observation -- Hamas has set the ration, so there can be no complaints about Israel's military response to Palestinian attacks until and unless those attacks kill more than 1027 Palestinians for every dead Israeli. After all, that is the ratio that the Palestinians have set themselves.

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Iranian Terror Plot Was Act Of War, Not Crime

The United States on Tuesday accused Iranian officials of plotting to murder Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States in a bizarre scheme involving an Iranian-American used-car salesman who believed he was hiring assassins from a Mexican drug cartel for $1.5 million.

The alleged plot also included plans to pay the cartel, Los Zetas, to bomb the Israeli Embassy in Washington and the Saudi and Israeli Embassies in Argentina, according to a law enforcement official.

The plotters also discussed a side deal between the Quds Force, part of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and Los Zetas to funnel tons of opium from the Middle East to Mexico, the official said. The plans never progressed, though, because the two suspects — the Iranian-American and an Iranian Quds Force officer — unwittingly were dealing with an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration, officials said.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who announced the murder plot at a news conference in Washington, said it was “directed and approved by elements of the Iranian government and, specifically, senior members of the Quds Force.” He added that “high-up officials in those agencies, which is an integral part of the Iranian government, were responsible for this plot.”

Iran, of course, has expressed outrage and made denials. Given that regime's history, we can't put much credence in those denials.

Had the plot come off, it would have been nothing less than terrorist attack on American soil that was launched by a foreign government. Under those circumstances, even Obama would have been compelled to launch strikes at targets all across Iran — at a minimum. An attack like that be complete justification for a full on war against Iran that ended when their country was subjugated and their leaders were chanting “Death to America” in Hell.

Many wars in world history have started over far less than a bombing of this sort and Iran’s leaders must be well aware of that fact. If they were willing to risk a war with the United States now, when they don’t have functional nuclear weapons, how much bolder would they be when they have nukes and thus, would be protected from attacks by conventional forces? We’re talking about a nation that not only cooperates with terrorists and hates America, we’re talking about a country that has now actually ATTEMPTED A TERRORIST ATTACK ON AMERICAN SOIL.

That’s not something that should be overlooked and the Obama Administration has a responsibility to tell us what they’re going to do about this Act of War against the United States.

He is absolutely correct.

What John does not note, though, is that the plot can also be laid at the feet of the Obama Administration and its weak-kneed policies towards Iran. Obama sat by as Iran murdered its citizens as they protested for freedom. Obama has done little to stop the Iranian nuke program. Obama has done next to nothing to deal with Iranian aggression in the Middle East. Obama has not responded to Iranian subversion in Iraq. Given all of that, why wouldn't the Iranians decide to slap the eagle in its own nest?

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October 11, 2011

Sheila Jackson Lee Staffer Rebuffed By #Occupy Crowd

Many of the Occupy Wall Street group claim they want to be heard by our government, but when a staffer for Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas) showed up to support an Occupy Houston gathering, the crowd didn’t want to hear what he had to say or want to talk about their concerns.

Video shot by a protester at the Oct. 6th event has made it’s way on the web where Jackson-Lee staffer Gareth Morgans is shouted down by protesters as he expresses the congresswoman’s support for the gathering.

“She (Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee) wants you to know that her team and the Progressive Congressional Caucus are here to stand with the people, to fight with the people and to get these jobs back,” a protester announced before he introduced Morgans.

Morgans said he was there because Shelia Jackson Lee couldn’t attend, but that attendees are “always in all of our thoughts”, he was then shouted down by others at the gathering saying that “this is not a political advertisement”.

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The Definitive Word On The Claim That Global Warming Is “Settled Science”

As far as any reasonable person ought to be concerned, this one should settle the issue of whether or not the “settled science” on the subject is really settled.

The science is not settled, not by a long shot. Last month, scientists at CERN, the prestigious high-energy physics lab in Switzerland, reported that neutrinos might—repeat, might—travel faster than the speed of light. If serious scientists can question Einstein's theory of relativity, then there must be room for debate about the workings and complexities of the Earth's atmosphere.

For what it is worth, I believe that our climate may be warming. Notice those words – “may be”. I’m not certain that the data shows that. But even if it does, my knowledge as a student of history leads me to the conclusion that such change may be cyclical. After all, we have seen such cyclical change over centuries, millennia, and even longer periods of time. Climate has shown a sine-wave type patter since before the Industrial Revolution – and even before the advent of mankind. Why should I believe that now – and only now – the change is dues to the presence and activities of homo sapiens and not the natural process that has repeated itself over time?

I'll skip the the question of classification and cut to the one I find more relevant from as a practical question for Christians in a religiously diverse society.

In a fallen world, political questions are always contextual questions. With fear and trembling, matched with faithful biblical commitments, Christians must support and vote for candidates who will most faithfully and effectively meet these expectations. We must choose between real flesh-and-blood candidates, and not theoretical constructs.

Given all this, we would expect that, under normal circumstances, Mormon voters will support candidates who most fully represent their worldview and concerns. Given the distribution of Mormons in the United States, this means that many Mormons (who would probably prefer to vote for a Mormon candidate), often vote for an evangelical or a Roman Catholic candidate. The reverse is also true. Evangelicals in many parts of the United States vote eagerly for Roman Catholic candidates with whom we share so many policy concerns, and this is true also in reverse. In an increasingly diverse America, we will be faced with very different choices than we have faced in the past.

None of this settles the question of whom Evangelicals should support in the 2012 presidential race. Beyond this, those who support any one candidate for the Republican nomination must, if truly committed to electing a president who most shares their worldview and policy concerns, end up supporting the candidate in the general election who fits that description.

Mohler speaks very practically here -- and in words that apply to decisions by adherents of any belief system, whether religious or secular. In the nomination process, one may support one of a large number of candidates based upon which one most closely aligns with ones values and worldview -- but if that candidate is not the nominee, one must ultimately support the nominee who is likely to implement policies that come closest to one's ideals. If that means supporting someone of a different religious group, so be it.

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October 10, 2011

One Serious Water Hazard

As a kid, i caddied at a local golf course. I tried to learn the game and played at several other courses, but was never any good and gave the game up because i didn't enjoy it. But over the years, I've seen lots of sand traps and water hazards -- and this development does give new meaning to the latter term.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - Lawyers aren't the only sharks hanging around the Carbrook Golf Club. The Australian course's water hazard poses a danger--to more than just your game.

Six bull sharks have taken up residence in the course lake. The ten-foot long predators washed in during heavy flooding and don't have a way to get out.

The bull sharks are adapting to their new home nicely, some are even breeding.

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Let's Call #OccupyWallStreet What It Is -- Astroturf

Reader Greg Farrell writes to point out what he found on Craigslist. It’s an ad from the Working Families Party looking to hire protesters for Wall Street and offering $350-650 a week, depending on responsibility and length of time on staff: FIGHT TO HOLD WALL STREET ACCOUNTABLE NOW! MAKE A DIFFERENCE! GET PAID! Note: “Recruiters, please don’t contact this job poster.”

What Some Call A Dodge, I Call Correct

And even more to the point, I'm troubled by how the responses of the two candidates are being characterized.

On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Bachmann, who, like Cain, is actively courting religious conservatives, was asked repeatedly by host Candy Crowley whether Romney is a Christian. Each time, the Minnesota congresswoman demurred.

Calling the issue “inconsequential,” Bachmann went on to say, “I think what the real focus is here again is on religious tolerance. That's really what this is about. And I think -- again to make this a big issue is just ridiculous right now because every day I'm on the street talking to people this is not what people are talking about. I was very open about my faith, very clear about my faith. It's very important. But I don't think that I'll be judged based on my faith as president of the United States.”

Cain, on the same program, replied by saying “I’m not running for theologian in chief.”

Crowley pressed him: “Is Mitt Romney not a Christian?”

“He’s a Mormon,” Cain replied. “I am not going to do an analysis of Mormonism versus Christianity for the sake of answering that. I'm not getting into that. I am a Christian.”

The theological question of how to classify the Mormons is not relevant to the 2012 election. Indeed, Bachmann said it well when she noted that how we judge the next president (or, by implication, the current one) is not going to be upon their faith -- it will be upon the relevant political issues.

That said, let me reiterate my previously stated position about the entire matter. Mormons accept the Bible, and claim to follow Jesus Christ. The very name of their church -- the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints -- ought to make that clear. I'd argue that said profession that they follow Christ puts them somehow within the Christian fold. Yet at the same time, Mormons hold to some doctrines and teachings -- and make some historical claims -- that put them outside the mainstream of traditional Christianity. Some would argue that it places them beyond the pale of orthodoxy, and I would argue that there is certainly a
case to be made there as well. But in the end, that is a question for theologians and other scholars of religion to argue and debate. It is not a question for voters to decide at the ballot box, and it ought not be a political issue. These candidates therefore got it exactly right.

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Irony Alert -- Censorship Edition

Actress Marzieh Vafamehr has been sentenced to a year in jail and 90 lashes for her role in a film about the limits imposed on artists in the Islamic republic, an Iranian opposition website reported Sunday.

* * *

The film, produced in collaboration with Australia, tells the story of a young actress in Tehran whose theatre work is banned by the authorities. She is then forced to lead a secret life in order to express herself artistically.

October 09, 2011

A Suggestion For A Federal Budget Cut

Undocumented immigrant students in California will be able to receive state-funded financial aid in 2013 to attend college, under a new law signed Saturday by Gov. Jerry Brown.

* * *

About 2,500 students are projected to receive Cal Grants totaling $14.5 million, according to the California Department of Finance. That averages out to $5,800 per student.

Yeah, I know that is a small amount of money in the entire federal budget -- but if you start with such small cuts, then the aggregate becomes significant. And since this program gives government money to individuals illegally in the country and attending college without the required visa, it is only proper to penalize California -- and any state with a similar program -- for aiding and abetting the illegality.

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Your point touches on a couple of issues; the fact that California can't pay their own way and then to add to that they invite free loaders who aren't even legally here. Other than that...no, won't go there.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) threatened Friday to withhold funding from the Justice Department unless it agrees to defend a ban on the federal government recognizing same-sex marriages.

“We're going to take the money away from the Justice Department, who's supposed to enforce it, and we'll use it to enforce the law,” Boehner told the conservative Value Voters Summit.

Boehner is engaged in an ongoing dispute with Attorney General Eric Holder over his refusal to defend in court the Defense of Marriage Act. President Obama has taken the stance that the law is unconstitutional. While the Justice Department usually defends laws passed by Congress against legal challenges, the Obama administration has stopped defending DOMA while Democrats work to repeal the law.

In March, Boehner announced that if Obama wouldn’t defend DOMA, he would, hiring a private law firm to defend it on behalf of the House.

It is a legitimate, well-reasoned position. Since this administration won't defend the law, its budget should be educed by the amount necessary for someone else to do defend it.

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Attacks On Romney's Religion Remain UnAmerican And UnRepublican

The pastor who introduced Texas Gov. Rick Perry at a conservative gathering Friday said rival presidential candidate Mitt Romney is not a Christian and is in a cult because he is a Mormon.

Robert Jeffress, senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Dallas, endorsed Perry at the Values Voters Summit, introducing him as "a proven leader, a true conservative, and a committed follower of Christ."

After his remarks, Jeffress told reporters that Perry's religion is different from Romney's.

"Rick Perry's a Christian. He's an evangelical Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ," Jeffress said. "Mitt Romney's a good moral person, but he's not a Christian. Mormonism is not Christianity. It has always been considered a cult by the mainstream of Christianity."

Romney is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are commonly called Mormons.

Rick Perry has, to his credit, repudiated the sentiments expressed by Jeffress. I hope everyone else does -- there is no place for religious tests in the GOP, any more than there is for racial purity tests. Anyone who supports our platform is welcome.

Back in 2008, I endorsed Mitt Romney in the primaries. I have not done so this year, and am not sure when or if I will make an endorsement since my preferred candidate (JohnBolton) announced his decision to stay out of the race. That said, I stand by the sentiments about Mitt Romney's religion which I expressed four years ago (without extending the endorsement).

Now for all I find myself unable to accept Mormon religious doctrines (and I have studied them, having once been painfully smitten with a Mormon girl who would allow our relationship to progress no further unless I converted) and the historical roots of that faith, I have rarely met a Mormon whose fundamental decency I have doubted. That gives me a certain confidence that Romney's values and mine are congruent, even if not identical. It is why I can support his candidacy for president with a clear conscience, and why I can urge my fellow Americans (of whom my fellow Republicans are but one subset) to support him for the presidency in 2008.

There are great issues facing our country in 2012. We stand at a time of crisis when we must find a path out of the economic and social morass that exists today. But one thing I will say beyond all doubt is that there is no valid basis for considering the name on the sign in front of the building in which a candidate worships (if he or she worships at all) to be worthy of consideration. I would have been pleased to support a Jew (Eric Cantor) or the Catholic convert from Hinduism (Bobby Jindal) if either had run -- and could easily see a convert from Sikhism to Methodism (Nikki Haley) as my party's vice presidential nominee in 2012. Why should there be a problem with Romney's Mormonism?

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A Blogging RIP - Ruth Ann Owens AKA Lady Liberty

One of the things about blogging is that you make friends around the country and around the world through the blogosphere. Unfortunately, that means that we from time to time lose friends from around the blogosphere, because the internet is not immune to real world things like illness and death. I learned that early on when we lost blogger Bunker Mulligan only about a year into my blogging career.

Jim Hoft over at Gateway Pundit brings us word of the loss of co-blogger Lady Liberty. Sadly, Ruth Ann Owens lost her battle with cancer yesterday. Jim wrote a very touching tribute to her over at the site she volunteered to help him with and which she became an integral part of. Out of respect for the integrity of that tribute, I will not excerpt it, but will instead urge you to click that link above and read the whole thing.

Prayers go out for Ruth's family, of course -- and for Jim, whose loss is evident as well.

One More Reason To Be Proud To Be A Houston Texans Fan

Of the top five most generous NFL franchises, four tilted heavily toward the GOP. The most politically active team in the league, the Houston Texans, was responsible for a total of $293,100 since January of 2009. Of that, $287,300, or 98 percent, went to Republicans. That's because of one man—team owner and energy executive Robert McNair. McNair has given $215,200 of his estimated $1.4 billion net worth to political causes since January 2009, almost entirely to Republicans.

Of course, this shouldn't come as a surprise. Texas is a red state to begin with, and McNair got his start in business in the energy industry that Barack Obama and the Democrats are out to destroy.

And interestingly enough, team donations give me an additional reason to cheer against the Oakland Raiders this weekend -- the team's money goes big for Democrats. Indeed, most of the teams I hate most are big Democrat donors.

FLASHBACK: Dems Oppose Nuclear Option In 2005

The Senate on Thursday made an unprecedented change to its rules Thursday night following an extraordinary floor exchange that saw leaders and rank-and-file members spar first over consideration of President Obama’s jobs package, then over a series of non-related amendments and finally over the operating procedure of the chamber itself.

* * *

Thursday night’s history-making vote followed more than seven hours of negotiations between the Senate Republican and Democratic leaders.

Both sides said they had reached an agreement to have votes on seven amendments to the China currency bill – a measure that was on track to pass with overwhelming bipartisan support, after a bipartisan group of 79 senators on Monday voted to proceed on the bill.

One of the amendments agreed to by both parties Thursday would have been a procedural vote on Obama’s $447 billion jobs package – technically, a move by Republicans to suspend the chamber’s rules in order to offer the jobs plan as an amendment to the China currency measure.

But just as the leaders appeared prepared to go forward with their plan – and thus let the chamber wrap up its business on the Thursday before a holiday weekend – the agreement got derailed.

* * *

The procedural ins and outs: Reid raised a point of order against Senate Republicans’ motion to suspend the rules with respect to the seven amendments, including the one sponsored by McConnell on Obama’s jobs package, arguing that the move was intended to slow down passage of the China currency measure.

The chair – speaking on behalf of the Senate parliamentarian – disagreed with Reid’s motion. So Reid then moved to appeal the chair’s ruling, and the Senate voted on whether the chair was correct -- a move requiring only a majority-vote threshold for passage. Democrats overwhelmingly voted that the chair was incorrect, while Republicans (as well as one Democrat) voted in favor of the chair’s ruling.

In other words, the nuclear option was just invoked by harry Reid, and the Democrats voted to use it.

Get ready for 2013, Democrats -- you will be expected to sit down, shut up, and watch as the GOP passes any piece of legislation it wants, even with just 50 votes and the VP breaking the resulting tie. And don't you dare complain -- the GOP will simply invoke the Reid Rule.

Oh -- and so much for Obama campaigning against an "obstructionist" GOP that won't vote on his "pass it now" jobs bill. After all, it was the Democrats who just killed it in the Senate when the Republicans tried to get the vote the President asked for.

What if somebody who was ill-equipped for the office were to ascend to the presidency or vice presidency? What would they do? How long would it take for people to figure it out?

Uhhhhh – we already have the answer, Nicole. Haven’t you been reading the news since January 20, 2009? Does your pathological hatred of Sarah Palin make it impossible for you to explore that question by basing a character on the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

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I’m sorry, but there is absolutely no way to reconcile Rick Perry’s positions on in-state tuition at state colleges and universities for young illegal aliens and cities refusing to turn over illegal aliens for deportation.

Now Perry has offered a vigorous defense over the last few weeks of a program that gives some young illegal alien children in-state tuition at taxpayer-funded colleges and universities here in Texas. Some of his defenses have been insulting and demeaning towards those who do not believe that taxpayers should be subsidizing higher education for those who break our nation’s immigration laws.

3. Now you worked to outlaw sanctuary cities in Texas. Tell us why that is.

I called for abolishing sanctuary cities in my last State of the State address, and made it an emergency item for the Legislature. I’m a firm believer in giving law enforcement the discretion they need to do their job. Sanctuary city policies handcuff law enforcement officers in order to further a political agenda.

And he goes even further with a question about drivers licenses for illegals.

4. You signed a bill preventing illegal immigrants from receiving drivers’ licenses. Why did you do that?

I signed that bill because getting a driver’s license is a privilege, not a right. It just doesn’t make sense to me to extend that privilege to individuals who are here illegally….

In other words, Rick Perry is against extending special privileges to illegal aliens, except when he is for extending special privileges to them. After all, receiving a college or university education is not a right – it is a privilege. Having a state agency – in this case a college or university – forgo reporting an illegal alien to federal immigration authorities and instead giving them a taxpayer subsidized higher education is every bit a privilege as is placing a similar restriction on law enforcement. And let’s look at Perry’s justification for supporting the in-state tuition policy that privileges these illegal aliens with a college education that they are not entitled to receive in this country under the terms of federal law (they need a resident or student visa for that).

And it would lower the odds that these students would receive subsidized health care or end up in prison. Protecting taxpayers was a serious concern, given that a Supreme Court decree already requires taxpayers to pay for K-12 education for undocumented students.

These two arguments are really illogical. After all, if we would only let illegal aliens get a drivers license, they could then get a job (illegally, just like these students are attending colleges and universities illegally) so they can avoid receiving subsidized health care or ending up in prison. And Perry even admits that there is no legal mandate for even allowing illegal aliens to attend our state-run colleges and universities in the first place, unlike that which exists for K-12 education.

In other words, Rick Perry supports taxpayer-subsidized sanctuaries for some young illegal aliens on the campuses of colleges and universities here in Texas. How on earth can he call that a conservative position?

Everyone was so excited about Perry, I think we thought he was the new and improved George W. Bush, all the good qualities of Bush and none of the negatives. But once the curtain was pulled back, no way I can vote for him

NY Times – “Tax Hikes For Everyone!”

Ultimately, families making $250,000, and even those making less, will have to give back some of the tax benefits they got from the Bush administration if the budget is to return to long-term health. Beginning that tax-reform process now makes more sense than confining the new tax to millionaires, whatever its populist satisfactions.

Higher taxes? Yeah – but let’s start by setting a 90% tax rate on the gross income of print media corporations operating for more than 150 years that are headquartered in American cities with a population of over 5 million. And let's not allow for any deductions from that tax, either.

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October 05, 2011

Palin Out

Ms. Palin, the former governor of Alaska, ended her inscrutable cat-and-mouse game with the political establishment on Wednesday afternoon by saying that she would not join the field of Republican candidates seeking her party’s nomination, but would still work to oust President Obama.

“Not being a candidate, you are unshackled and able to be even more active,” she said on the Mark Levin show. “I look forward to using all the tools at my disposal to get the right people in there who have a servant’s heart.”

The decision from Ms. Palin on Wednesday placed a punctuation mark on the Republican presidential field. Her intentions were the biggest remaining question in the race. While there was not a groundswell among Republican leaders about a Palin candidacy, she has a deeply loyal following.

Folks act like this is some sort of surprise, but it really is not. The polls show that she cannot win the general election, so every primary vote for her would be the equivalent of a vote for Barack Obama as the GOP presidential candidate. Palin is smart enough to know this -- and as a political realist, she sacrificed what may or may not have been her personal ambition for national office in favor of getting rid of the incompetent in the Oval Office. In short, her decision is good for both her party and her country.

October 04, 2011

Hoist On His Own Petard

I got an unwanted email from one of the flacks for the unwanted individual currently living and working at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue about his unwanted jobs bill. It had this as its subject.

They won't even vote on it

In the email he takes on the House GOP for not voting on his jobs bill – despite the fact that the Democrats running the Senate have not scheduled a vote on the bill either, and do not have the votes to pass it even though they control the chamber.

Senate Republicans will force a vote on President Obama's job bill, putting vulnerable Democrats in a tough position.

"The president wants a vote and we're going to be sure to give it to him," Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said Tuesday.

Hey – there is no reason that the Senate, controlled by the president’s own party, should not go first on this one. Bravo to the Senate Republicans for working to make sure that the Senate Democrats go on the record on Obama’s turkey of a bill so that the whole world will know that there was never any chance of that piece of crap legislation becoming law – a fact that Barack Obama has known since the first time he intoned “pass this bill now”.

UPDATE: No vote on the bill in the Senate. Majority Leader Harry Reid won't allow it. When will Barack Obama begin his condemnation of obstructionist Democrats like Reid, Durbin, and the rest of that stinking crew in his own party who won't allow a vote to "pass this bill now"?

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An Observation On Responses To Terrorism In The Middle East

I have no problem calling this incident an act of terrorism, and condemning it as such.

A mosque in an Arab village in northern Israel was set on fire early Monday in what the police called an arson attack, and an outside wall was defaced with Hebrew graffiti.

The attack followed a series of similar assaults on mosques in the West Bank by arsonists suspected of being radical settlers as part of a campaign known as “price tag,” which seeks to exact a price from local Palestinians for violence against settlers or from Israeli security forces for taking action against illegal construction in Jewish outposts in the West Bank.

The attack on Monday was in the village of Tuba-Zangariya, in Galilee, where calm had prevailed for years.

This sort of attack was wrong – in both a legal and moral sense. There can be no legitimate defense of it.

Which is why it brought this response from Israeli leaders.

Israeli leaders condemned the attack on the mosque. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the images of the damage were “shocking” and had “no place in the state of Israel.”

The defense minister, Ehud Barak, said that the “criminals” involved wanted to upset Jewish-Arab relations.

The president of Israel, Shimon Peres, and the country’s chief rabbis visited the mosque in the afternoon in a show of solidarity with leading clerics from other faiths.

Police are investigating, hoping to find the perpetrators and bring appropriate charges against them for this offensive deed.

Contrast this with the approach taken by Palestinian leaders to attacks against Jews.

Do the leaders of the so-called “Palestinian Authority” denounce such attacks? No – they remain silent or even endorse them.

Do senior Islamic religious figures come to the victims to express solidarity with them and provide support? Not that I have been able to find.

Instead they lionize those who engage in terrorism against Jews as heroes if they live and martyrs if they die. They are lifted up as examples to be followed, and their families receive largesse from the PA and other Arab governments. After all, Jews in Israel – whether they be passengers on a bus, diners in a restaurant, shoppers in a store or a family sleeping in their beds – deserve such violence just because they exist. Or at least that is what leading voices in government, religion, and media around the Arab world (and especially in Gaza and the West Bank) have to say on the matter.

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CAIR is applying the old adage of divide and conquer by injecting strife. They understand how much easier it is to strike down a disorganized and splintered enemy than one that presents a solid front.

CAIR's tactics of intimidation/reprisal are like the Mafia, and its destabilization techniques like that of CPUSA, but its existence is like that of the Amerikadeutscher Bund prior to WW2...legal and lethal.

The politicians and the media accommodate CAIR because they've been indoctrinated to "play nice," forgetting what all of us learned in school -- you can't appease a bully without giving him more power. Eventually a tipping point will be reached, but by then it might be too late.

http://righthereontheleftcoast.blogspot.com/2011/09/ropma.html

I support Israel and the Jewish people, and CAIR's disapproval really is a badge of honor.

A Blast From My Past

In 1988, Congressman Mel Price died, setting the stage for a special election. I went to work for the staff of the GOP candidate in the very Democrat district. In the end, we lost the race in the special election and the subsequent general election that fall. Those days came back to me when I read this article.

A key Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said Tuesday that he would not run for re-election next year.
Rep. Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), the ranking member of the transportation panel's Aviation Subcommittee and a eleven-term Congressman, will not seek another term in the House of Representatives next year, his office confirmed to The Hill.

Costello, who was first elected to Congress in 1988, played a large role in the funding battles over the Federal Aviation Administration this year.

Had those two elections in 1988 gone differently, Bob Gaffner would have gone to Congress and I would have likely followed him to Washington as a part of his staff. My life would have been very different. I would not have spent time in the seminary, I would not have become a teacher, and I would not have met my wife. As I look at it from nearly a quarter century later, I’m actually pretty glad things turned out as they did.

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Will Ron Paul Introduce Articles Of Impeachment?

If he really believes the line he is putting out about Obama “assassinating” Anwar al-Awlaki, then the Congressman really has no alternative but to do so.

Ron Paul said Monday that President Barack Obama’s targeted killing of Anwar al-Awlaki might be an impeachable offense.

Asked at a Manchester, N.H. town hall meeting about last week’s killing of the American-born Al Qaeda leader, the Texas congressman said impeachment would be “possible,” but that he wants to know more about how the administration “flouted the law.”

Now listen – we all know that Ron Paul is a buffoon. Unfortuantely, he is a buffoon with a committed band of followers. And if he really believes that Obama exceeded his authority under the Constitution in this case, then he needs to show some actual courage and introduce that privileged motion on the floor of the House. If he won’t do that, then Ron Paul will have demonstrated himself to be a poseur who talks a good game about the Constitution but lacks the guts to stand up for it when the chips are down.

By the way, I disagree with the man’s point of view. I think that there is a very clear case to be made that Obama in no way exceeded his authority. After all, the post-9/11 resolution authorizes force against al-Qaeda and there are a few relevant provisions of the Constitution that would also apply, including his authority as Commander-in-Chief to direct the military against foreign and domestic enemies in defense of the nation and the consequent implicit ability to use military force against those who are de facto guilty of treasonous activities under Article III by virtue of their making war on the United States.

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Thank you for your article. I just wish Obama had arrested the guy, had him tried, and sentenced in An American court. The fact that he "jumped the gun" without doing this makes me think Paul has some valid points.

Uh,no we don't all know that Ron Paul is a buffoon - because he is not. Small minds call names because they are afraid of the truth. and the truth is that Ron Paul is right - on the Constitution and much else. Obama clearly conceded his authority - get grounded in reality and stop making things up just because you want to.

The problem with this, is not the exclusion of constitutional protections that Al Alawki should've been afforded, but the due-process of law from which all other innocent Americans could be refused because of this precedent. We know that Alawki likely did some bad things, but we do not know what those specific crimes are. Rather, we know what the administration has told us and what the media has alluded to.
What is now to prevent this administration from judging government dissenters and critics as terrorists, or to commit acts of aggression against those? It is unlikely that these events would happen to innocent Americans, but because of this precedent, it is now more likely than it was prior. This is the reason why a strict adherence to the constitution is so important.

I can't agree with your proposition that Mr. Obama "in no way exceeded his authority". He ordered someone killed, without providing proof of any wrong-doing. Or maybe you lump yourself in with the seeming majority of Americans who accept the testimony of the tv as gospel.

At the end of the day, about the only established facts that I can find are that al-Awlaki was a citizen of the U.S. That he preached sermons demonizing the U.S. The rest is conjecture. He probably conversed with Major Hasaan. And that's about it.

Article 3, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution states: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the
same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court." Yeah, that's not what happened.

As far as RP delivering articles of impeachment, I can't speak for the man, but I remember watching Dennis Kucinich delivering them against Bush. What good did that do? Maybe he's waiting until he gets all the facts, maybe he's not doing it because he's afraid. I don't know, but I'll judge when I have more facts.

Maybe that's you're thing, you like to "shoot from the hip" as it were. You don't need to see proof. If the government says it, you believe it, no?

Under the theory espoused by you mind-numbed Paulistinians, the entire Civil War was a violation of the Constitution because not a single one of those Confederates had been indicted, much less tried and convicted, for their crimes before Abe Lincoln sent the Union Army to assassinate them.

Hank Williams Gets Dixie Chicked – Liberals Silent

Williams, perhaps best known for his "are you ready for some football?" lead-in to ESPN's Monday Night Football, Monday compared this summer's so-called golf summit between Obama and House Speaker John Boehner as "one of the biggest political mistakes ever."

As Williams put it on Fox News' Fox & Friends: "It would be like Hitler playing golf with (Israeli leader) Benjamin Netanyahu."

When asked on Fox to explain his analogy, Williams said Obama and Vice President Biden are "the enemy."

Personally, I don’t have a problem with the business decision made by ESPN and its corporate parent. After all, it is a business decision, and they have a right to decide not to associate their brand with Williams and his comments, every bit as much as so many country radio stations had the right to disassociate themselves from the Ditzy Witches after their anti-Bush commentary nearly a decade ago.

Comments on Hank Williams Gets Dixie Chicked – Liberals Silent

To compare what the Dixie Chicks said to what Hank Williams said is ridiculous. The Dixie Chicks merely said they were ashamed that the president was from their state. Hank Williams likened Obama to HITLER.

If the Dixie Chicks had said or implied Bush was Hitler, then I would have been much more sympathetic to attempts to ban them from the radio. But all they did was express disappointment in the president - not liken him to a genocidal maniac. Hank Williams went WAY over the line, especially for a non-partisan enterprise like a sports network, and their business decision, while heavy-handed, arguably is justified.

1) So what if he compared Obama to Hitler? Doesn't that mean that he is dissenting EVEN MORE than the Ditzy Beyotches were, and his words were therefore EVEN MORE PATRIOTIC than theirs were? Besides -- the comparison was one of polar opposites, not of political ideologies.

2) Since when have you left-wingers objected to comparing a president to Hitler? Take this compendium of examples and this one for examples when it was just fine with your side. That was your "patriotic dissent" back during the Bush Administration -- but it only became a problem for your side when the unicorn-riding demigod got into office.

Can We Agree That This Is Racist?

Herman Cain- it's funny, the Republicans do know that he's darker than Barack Obama- maybe- but whiter on the inside.

Now this is offensive on its face, and deserves to be condemned as such.

But let's also consider this from the perspective of their respective biographies. Barack Obama is the son of a visiting African student who was raised a middle class white child by his grandparents in Hawaii, attending one of the most exclusive schools in the state before going off to the Ivy League. Herman Cain is the descendant of slaves who grew up in the segregated South, attended historically black Morehouse College, and made his a career based upon his own merit. I'd therefore suggest that Lopez owes n apology not just to Herman Cain, but also to the black community as a whole for denigrating its experience and history.

Comments on Can We Agree That This Is Racist?

Most Of Chris Matthews' Vision Sounds Good To Me

If he blows this election, the Tea Partiers and the neocons come roaring back emptying out the Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute, erecting statues to Dick Cheney, celebrating the death penalty, elevating torture, ending environmental protection as we know it, breaking unions, punishing gays, starting more wars, and enacting one more giant tax cut for the rich – or worse.

Gee -- appointing smart people from conservative think tanks rather than liberal hacks to government positions? Sounds like a fine idea to me.

Statues fs Dick Cheney? I'm all for that -- indeed, I hope they will supply me with a bust for my classroom?

Celebrating the death penalty? I'm not so sure about that -- but I'd like certainly like to see them broadcast in prime time, as a modern-day twist on the public hanging.

"Ending environmental protection as we know it'? Yeah -- because the system is broken and needs to be fixed in such a way that has a more reasonable balance between the needs of human beings and various species.

And torture? Only for liberal journalists who feign neutrality while pushing biased bullcrap like Matthews' comments above while pretending it is based in something other than his own warped sense of what his opponents actually believe.

Dems Defend Perry From Racism Charges

Even some of Perry’s fiercest Texas critics say they do not believe he is racist. They point to his record of appointments as evidence: He appointed the state’s first African-American state supreme court justice, Wallace Jefferson, and later made him chief justice. (Jefferson’s great grandfather was a slave, “sold like a horse,” Perry once said with disgust.) Perry’s former general counsel and former chief of staff, Brian Newby, is black; so is Albert Hawkins, the former Health and Human Services Commissioner who Perry handpicked to lead the massive agency in 2002.

“He doesn’t have a racist bone in his body,” said former Democratic state Rep. Ron Wilson, who is black and served with Perry in his early years in the Legislature. “He didn’t then, and he doesn’t now.”

Added Dallas Democratic Sen. Royce West, who is also black: “I don’t agree with him on policy issues, but you can point to many things he has done that were sensitive to ethnic minorities.”

Indeed, in his 11-year gubernatorial tenure, Perry has appointed more minorities to statewide posts — including university regents and secretaries of state — than any governor in Texas history.

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October 03, 2011

The Most Absurd Of Hit Pieces Against Rick Perry

In case I haven't said it, this Texas republican is not backing Rick perry for the GOP presidential nomination -- and i know plenty who are like-minded. That said, I'm really troubled by yesterday's WaPo hit piece on my state's governor over something he was in no way responsible for and which his family took steps to rectify. After all, the piece of land had the offensive name long before Perry was ever associated with it, the Perry family took steps to obliterate the offensive landmark, and Perry himself notes that the name is inappropriate.

Yeah, some folks still call it by the old, offensive name -- but Rick perry can't control what other folks call it, can he? And if you've ever lived in a rural area where there have been more recent changes to long-time place names, you know that the old names don't die easy among the locals. And as for the painted-over slur on the rock outside the gate, please remember that the Perry family painted it over -- would it have taken sandblasting or dynamite to satisfy those who complain about what was there before the Perry's leased the land?

Many, many people were interviewed for the story. Only seven recall seeing the rock, and not one of them connect Rick Perry to it, nor do any of the people --either from among these seven or who knows how many more were contacted for the piece-- tie Rick Perry to offensive comments, language or actions. Though a lot of space is devoted to this story, no detailed reporting on what the seven saw and when they saw it is included, which allows for incredible supposition about the ambiguity to take root. Thus a story that could have major implications for the presidential campaign in 2012 is built on anonymous sources whose stories aren't even detailed.

It is a drive-by slander.

That isn't merely A legitimate view of the story -- it is quite obviously THE ONLY legitimate view of the thing.

And Erik Erikson points out that this is not the first time that this particular reporter went in making charges of racism where there was none. Charging racism, even when there is none, seems to be her particular specialty.

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October 02, 2011

REPOSTED BECAUSE IT IS IMPORTANT -- The Enemies Of All Mankind

Once again I feel the need to bring this piece back for consideration, now that we have taken out terrorists with American citizenship operating in a foreign land. I believe the logic here still applies, the citizenship of the jihadi swine notwithstanding.

Here’s a neat idea for dealing with Osama and every other terrorist on the planet. They are hostis humani generis -- the enemies of all mankind.

TO UNDERSTAND THE POTENTIAL OF DEFINING TERRORISM as a species of piracy, consider the words of the 16th-century jurist Alberico Gentili's De jure belli: "Pirates are common enemies, and they are attacked with impunity by all, because they are without the pale of the law. They are scorners of the law of nations; hence they find no protection in that law." Gentili, and many people who came after him, recognized piracy as a threat, not merely to the state but to the idea of statehood itself. All states were equally obligated to stamp out this menace, whether or not they had been a victim of piracy. This was codified explicitly in the 1856 Declaration of Paris, and it has been reiterated as a guiding principle of piracy law ever since. Ironically, it is the very effectiveness of this criminalization that has marginalized piracy and made it seem an arcane and almost romantic offense. Pirates no longer terrorize the seas because a concerted effort among the European states in the 19th century almost eradicated them. It is just such a concerted effort that all states must now undertake against terrorists, until the crime of terrorism becomes as remote and obsolete as piracy.

What would be the impact of classifying terrorism along with piracy?

If the war on terror becomes akin to war against the pirates, however, the situation would change. First, the crime of terrorism would be defined and proscribed internationally, and terrorists would be properly understood as enemies of all states. This legal status carries significant advantages, chief among them the possibility of universal jurisdiction. Terrorists, as hostis humani generis, could be captured wherever they were found, by anyone who found them. Pirates are currently the only form of criminals subject to this special jurisdiction.

Second, this definition would deter states from harboring terrorists on the grounds that they are "freedom fighters" by providing an objective distinction in law between legitimate insurgency and outright terrorism. This same objective definition could, conversely, also deter states from cracking down on political dissidents as "terrorists," as both Russia and China have done against their dissidents.

Recall the U.N. definition of piracy as acts of "depredation [committed] for private ends." Just as international piracy is viewed as transcending domestic criminal law, so too must the crime of international terrorism be defined as distinct from domestic homicide or, alternately, revolutionary activities. If a group directs its attacks on military or civilian targets within its own state, it may still fall within domestic criminal law. Yet once it directs those attacks on property or civilians belonging to another state, it exceeds both domestic law and the traditional right of self-determination, and becomes akin to a pirate band.

Third, and perhaps most important, nations that now balk at assisting the United States in the war on terror might have fewer reservations if terrorism were defined as an international crime that could be prosecuted before the International Criminal Court.

October 01, 2011

Why Military Chaplains Doing Gay Marriages Is Not A Big Deal

The Pentagon will permit military chaplains to perform same-sex marriage as long as such ceremonies are not prohibited in the states where they reside, it said Friday.

Defense Department guidance issued to military chaplains said they may participate in ceremonies on or off military bases in states that recognize gay unions. Chaplains are not required to officiate at same-sex weddings if doing so is counter to their religious or personal beliefs, the guidance said.

And regardless of the Pentagon guidance, military chaplains will still need to take cues from their religious order, said Gary Pollitt, spokesman for the Military Chaplains Association.

“Just because the Department of Defense says this can happen, the chaplains perform such rites in keeping with their ecclesiastical authorization. Period,” Pollitt said.

There are a couple of points here. First, these ceremonies are only being performed in states where they are legal. Second, such ceremonies are only permitted, not mandated, for chaplains -- and they have to follow the guidance of their denomination. Third, the federal government STILL does not recognize them, as per DOMA.

Now I'll admit that this policy goes right up to the line on the third point, which makes me think the policy is problematic in some ways -- but it did not cross the line.. But it is those first two that I want to focus on.

We all acknowledge that marriage is a state issue. Allowing chaplains to officiate gay marriages does not force a state to recognize them -- it merely acknowledges what is legal in the state. To prohibit chaplain participation would also open up the possibility of the DOD issuing an order prohibiting service menbers from entering into a gay marriage -- or even prohibiting ALL members of the military from marrying.

And consider the implications of the DOD prohibiting chaplains whose faith traditions allow them to perform those ceremonies. such a policy would open up the possibility of the DOD controlling all manner of religious rites -- including REQUIRING chaplains to perform the ceremonies regardless of the dictates of their religious tradition. This is simply a policy that says "follow your conscience and your faith." That makes it neutral in scope, not coercive.

So while there are some who are up in arms, I'm not -- because it is the best policy that we could either expect or ask for in terms of religious freedom.

MuNuviana

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NAME: Greg
AGE: 50-ish
SEX: Male
MARITAL STATUS: Married
OCCUPATION: Social Studies Teacher
LOCATION: Seabrook, TX
DISCLAIMER: All posts reflect my views alone, and not the view of my wife, my dogs, my employer, or anyone else. All comments reflect the view of the commenter, and permitting a comment to remain on this site in no way indicates my support for the ideas expressed in the comment.Amazon.com Widgets